Sin 4: the Invisible Scapegoat

Last updated on: December 15, 2022 at 11:27 am By Ted Peters

The dead soldier is America’s invisible scapegoat. All living soldiers are also sacred because they “risk their life” for our freedom. This should be problematic for Christians. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the Final Scapegoat because his death on the cross puts an end to the distorted delusion that some mechanism of sacrifice can purify us. When we scapegoat, we justify violence. We justify sin. We separate ourselves from God. The regrettable task of the public theologian is to make the invisible visible. Read more

Is AI a Shortcut to Virtue? Or to Holiness?

Last updated on: June 16, 2023 at 9:46 am By Ted Peters

Is AI a Shortcut to Virtue? Or to Holiness? H+ 2005 Could AI (Artificial Intelligence)–or even better IA (Intelligence Amplification)–make us more moral? More virtuous? More holy? Could we program intelligence enhancement to speed up our deification? Our theosis? Are these reasonable questions? Yes. After all, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, says “AI could be our savior.” So, let’s ask questions about the moral, ethical, spiritual, and sanctifying implications of AI and IA. Here I will continue the discussion of... Read more

The Public Theology of the Black Pastor

Last updated on: July 4, 2023 at 12:52 pm By Ted Peters

The Public Theology of the Black Pastor Patheos PT 5015 The power of the black pastor! Even if the black pastor says nothing, we see public theology at work. This is revealed in what a defense attorney says. “We don’t want any more black pastors coming in here.” What?! Really!? “If we’re going to start a precedent, starting yesterday, where we’re going to bring high-profile members of the African American community into the courtroom to sit with the family during... Read more

Are Alien Scientists the Real Gods?

Last updated on: July 31, 2023 at 4:06 pm By Ted Peters

Are Alien Scientists the Real Gods? SR 1171 UFO 1 “An advanced scientific civilization could be an approximation to what we called ‘God’.” This is what Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb told those attending the “Our Future in Space” program at the Washington Cathedral on November 10, 2021. Watch carefully: Avi Loeb touts the ETI myth. Will aliens put Yahweh of the Bible out of a job? Will Shiva, Vishnu, Marduk, and the Great Spirit also line up for unemployment checks?... Read more

Sin 3: the Visible Scapegoat

Last updated on: December 15, 2022 at 11:22 am By Ted Peters

Adam and Eve justified eating the forbidden fruit by blaming each other, blaming the serpent, and blaming God. As natural as breathing air, we human beings draw an imaginary line between good and evil. Then we place ourselves on the good side of the line. Sometimes we place someone else on the evil side of that line. We blame the evil person. We verbally curse or physically punish that person. And we do so in the name of the good. This mechanism has a name: scapegoating. Read more

Sin 2: Self-Justification

Last updated on: December 15, 2022 at 11:19 am By Ted Peters

I believe the concept of sin is one of the brightest lights the public theologian can shine into the darkness of racism, jingoism, family abuse, and our daily fare of maligning rhetoric. Here's my observation: When in self-justification we draw a line between good and evil, we place the scapegoat on the other side. Read more

Can Science Dispense with Religion?

Last updated on: May 30, 2023 at 4:18 pm By Ted Peters

Can science dispense with relgion? No. Not if you're Iranian theoretical physicist Medhi Golshani. Read more

Karen Bloomquist: Another Worldview Must Be Enacted Today

Last updated on: July 4, 2023 at 12:43 pm By Ted Peters

Karen Bloomquist: Another Worldview Must Be Enacted Today Patheos PT 5013 Ted Peters along with Karen Bloomquist are both writing in this post. Ted Peters here. In addition to discourse clarification, I have held that the public theologian should be continually engaged in worldview construction. As the very term, worldview, suggests, we are considering two things at once: the world and the way we view it. Even if we are aware that there is more to the cosmos than what... Read more

The Reformation Faith: Belief? Trust? Or Indwelling Presence?

Last updated on: October 29, 2022 at 10:48 am By Ted Peters

October 31, the eve of All Saints, is not just Halloween. It’s also Reformation Day. Protestants celebrate this festival to remember the date when Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses on the chapel door of Wittenberg Castle. This lit the fuse on a bang heard ‘round the world for five centuries. The central tenet of the Lutheran version of the Protestant Reformation is concise: we are justified by faith. That’s it! Nothing more! For John Calvin, justification-by-faith is the “main hinge... Read more

Science, Scientism, and the Intelligibility of Faith

Last updated on: May 30, 2023 at 4:52 pm By Ted Peters

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It appears to SBNRs (Spiritual But Not Religious) and the wider public that science and religion are at war. This need not be the case. Christian theology requires fides et ratio, faith plus reason. Read more